Improvement in car-coupling



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

M. K. ADAMS, OF MOUNTAIN EAGLE, PENNSYLVANIA.

IMPROVEMENT IN CAR-COUPLING.

` Specification forming part of Letters Patent N0. 71,673, dated December 3,- 1867.

To all whom t may concern.-

Be it known that I, M. K. ADAMS, of Mountain Eagle, in the county of Centre and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Oar-Coupling-s; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making part of this specification, and to the letters of reference marked I thereon, like letters indicating like parts wherever they occur.

To enable others skilled in the art to construct and use my invention, I will proceed to describe it.

My invention consists in a novel construction of a car-coupling, by which the cars can be easily coupled or uncoupled, and that will automatically uncouple cars thrown from the track by any means whatever, as hereinafter explained.

Figures 1, 3, and 4 are longitudinal vertical sections of a car head or bumper with my improvements applied thereto; and Fig. 2 is a front or end elevation of the same.

Instead of the ordinary coupling-link, I use a doubleheaded pin or bolt, E, for uniting the cars, as shown in Figs. 3 and 4, the ends of the heads being made conical or rounded, as shown. I then construct the draw-head A w1th a recess, I, as shown, in its upper side, near the front end, and make a vertical opening, j', leading from this recess I out to the end of the head,'as shown in Fig. 2, this openlng being enlarged into a conical form as it approaches the outerend, as represented by d 1n the drawings, so that the head of the bolt E, when entered therein, will be guided to the center. y

Over the recess I, I pivot a heavy iron lid, B, as represented, and to its under side attach a loop, o, made of a dat strip, in such a position that when the lid is closed it will fall into the recess I, this loop being of such a size as to permit the head of the coupling-bolt E to rest therein, as represented in- Fig. 4. This lid B may be provided with a lever formed by an extension of its rear part, as shown in Figs. l and 3, by the depression of which into the recess L the front end will be raised, in which operation the loop o will raise the bolt E out of the opening f, and thereby release the same, and thus uncouple the cars; or the lid may have a loop or handle, a, attached, by which it may be raised by hand, or by means of levers m, pivoted to the platform O, as represented in Fig. 2.

Instead of the recess L, the draw head may be reduced in size and made solid, as shown in Fig. 4, and the lid be pivoted to projections o, which may have shoulders formed thereon, as shown, to prevent the lid from being raised far enough to fall over back. When thus constructed it will be seen that, as the head of the coupling-bolt E is entered into the conical opening in the end of the draw-head A, it will be forced to the center and upward, and as it is pressed in will raise the lid until the head of the bolt enters the recess, when the neck of the bolt will at once fall into the opening f, and the lid will close above it, and

the head of the bolt will engage with the shoulders a around vthe opening f, thus locking the parts together. At the same time, if a car should, by any means, be displaced from the track, the bolt E will be drawn 'to one side and inclined downward, which will cause the end to be raised out of the opening j', and thus be automatically detached.

The lid B will be made of sufficient weight to hold the bolt E securely in place, except when thus inclined and forced out of place; or, if preferred, a spring may be applied to hold the lid down.

In order to use the ordinary link for coupling, I secure to the under side of the head a bar, h, and make a hole for the ordinary pin, the pin and link being shown in red in` Fig. 1. This, however, will not be necessary where all the cars are provided with my improvement.

Having thus described my invention, what I claimis- A car-coupling consisting of the doubleheaded bolt E, in combination with the drawhead A, provided with the recess I, and hinged lid B, having the loop o attached, when the whole is arranged tofoperate substantially as described.

M. KADAMS.

Witnesses: A

W. C. DODGE, Il. B. MUNN. 

